James River Bridge to get metal studs after VDOT review

After a spike in accidents, the Virginia Department is planning to weld… (Adrin Snider, Daily Press )

July 24, 2013|By Austin Bogues, abogues@dailypress.com | 247-4536

VIRGINIA BEACH — After conducting an exhaustive three-month internal investigation into increased crashes involving the new James River Bridge grid deck, Virginia Department of Transportation officials said Wednesday it will remedy the situation by installing metal studs to the steel section.

Jim Utterback, VDOT's District Administrator for Hampton Roads said the report did not find any conclusive reasons for the increase in crashes or identify any structural defects. But Utterback said nevertheless "the number of crashes speak (for) themselves…Everybody's disappointed in the crashes on the bridge," Utterback said. "We take this matter serious."

The department consulted a variety of sources while conducting the investigation, including other state departments of transportation that use grid decks and researchers at Virginia Tech.

There have been 20 crashes on the JRB grid deck from February through July according to Dwayne Cook, VDOT's Assistant District Administrator for Operations. In 2012, there were only two crashes in the grid deck area of the bridge during that period, and there were none in 2011.

The increase comes as the department says the number of vehicle accidents on the James River Bridge is approaching a historic low. There have only been two reported crashes on the rest of the bridge, compared to 40 crashes last year.

The installation of the grid deck was completed in December of 2012 at an estimated cost of $3.8 million. VDOT estimates 30,000 vehicles travel across the bridge each day. On July 1, an Isle of Wight woman, Kayla Williams, 20, was involved in a single vehicle accident when she lost control of her Ford Explorer on the grid deck and crashed into the median. Williams died of her injuries a day later.

Utterback said the majority of crashes involved SUV's and light trucks and occurred on the southbound lanes of the bridge. He said there is no evidence of any structural differences between the northbound and southbound sections of the grid deck. In all but three of the crashes, conditions on the grid deck were wet. VDOT found there had not been any statistically significant increase in rainfall in the area of the bridge in the two previous years that may have caused the additional crashes.

The department considered other options, including adding 2-feet- wide concrete strips beneath the concrete wheel lines on the grid deck, roughening the surface to add traction, and applying a metal coating to the surface of the grid deck.

In 1982, after the previous grid deck was installed on the James River Bridge, a similar increase in crashes was noticed by the agency, and metal studs were placed on the deck to improve traction. But the studs were a source of complaint with many motorists who said they were harsh on tires.

"It's proven; its something that's been done previously. It's been done in other areas. That seems to be the best approach," Utterback said.

"The studs will increase friction, but they are raised metal," Utterback said. "The steel grid deck is already uncomfortable to drive across. This will be an added measure of safety. I imagine it will not be popular to some…The new design of the grid deck was intended to eliminate the need for studs."

Utterback noted there was no evidence that the contractor who installed the grid deck, Curtis Contracting, acted improperly.

Utterback said he hoped that as soon as August the department would award an emergency contract to install the metal studs on the bridge, a process that is expected to take nearly three months and cost $800,000.

VDOT said in addition to installing the new metal studs, the agency would continue to use overhead electronic message signs to advise motorists of the 45 mph speed advisory on the bridge during inclement weather.

The department will also continue to pay Virginia State Police to patrol the grid deck portion of the bridge during bad weather. VDOT officials said they did not know the exact cost of paying state troopers to patrol the deck because the department has not yet been billed bv Virginia State Police.

VDOT said it would install "Slippery When Wet" signs near the steel grid deck and also place "Stay in Lane" signs, along with solid white double lane lines.

"If that will take care of the problem, we're glad they're moving forward on it," said Isle of Wight Sheriff Mark Marshall. Earlier in July, Marshall, concerned about the increase in crashes his agency had responded to in the area of the grid deck, met with VDOT. He sent out a statement warning motorists to slow their speed when approaching the grid deck, calling it a "compelling public safety issue."

"Certainly we're glad they have taken the steps and hope they will get that installed as soon as they can get it done," Marshall said. "I'm just glad that at least at this juncture they've done a review, and I'm glad it was not one of those 'analysis-paralysis' deals where they took forever to review it. They did this in the grand scheme of things fairly quickly."